This was the first article I wrote for PINOYexpats as part of the theme Buwan Ng Wika. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever written, but I’m so glad I finally found a copy so I can post it here.
A new immigrant, Lola was gardening when a neighbour greeted her with a jaunty, Good day!
Thank you, Lola replied as she fluffed up her hair.
Two weeks after arriving in Sydney, my family was at my school for an interview. How was your flight? the principal kindly asked my parents.
Oh, were living at my sister-in-laws house, Mum replied.
It turns out that Lola thought the neighbour was admiring the colour of her hair dye, while Mum thought the school principal was asking her about our flat. When these stories are recounted to friends, we discover similar anecdotes around their first contact with colloquial Australian English or what many people jokingly refer to as ‘Strine.
Language fluency is not just about the ability to remember words or put together grammatically correct sentences. Language is as much a cultural construct as it is a cognitive skill. The English we learn back home sounds, feels and evolves differently to the English of the Aussies, Kiwis, Poms and Yanks. Continue reading
‘When are you having kids?’ Its a refrain that many Filipinas are familiar with. Before the ink dries on your marriage contract, family and friends are already anticipating the most rewarding, and most difficult, time in your life. But having children in Australia today is a different experience to what our mothers and grandmothers went through in the Philippines. The average family in Australia has fewer than three children, whereas our parents often grew up in large households with enough siblings to form a basketball team—with a reserve bench. Modern medical care provides more options than home-birthing twelve children, as our grandmothers may have done. Heres a look at some of the differences you—or you daughters—might encounter. 
Words by Kat 